u/michaelnovati replied ·
Product market fit. It's key to a successful business. During the boom times, some bootcamps had product + market fit. Now the market has permanently shifted - like an earthquake hitting and permanently shifting the landscape - it's recognizable but fundamentally different. Most bootcamps haven't changed their products to meet the market and are failing. This happened to Rithm School, which built a great product and had a great team, and great intentions, but their product no longer served the market and they closed up shop. Launch Academy similarly indefinitely paused for this reason too - their product isn't meeting the market and they don't have the ideas or team or resources to make that shift right now, and their best strategic move was to pause.
Because bootcamps have historically not been technology companies and have been schools, they don't have the ability in their DNA to change fast enough and make shifts without derailing the existing student experience.
Compounding on that is the fact that the market shift has almost no entry level headcount and it's all going to 2025 CS grads right now. So the market gap isn't a small one, like "let's add AI", or "let's add more backend". You basically have to start over with a new idea AND hope you have the right one AND not screw up your existing student and alumni experience.
How do you get the resources to simultaneously double down on existing people while fundamentally starting over? Well that's why a bunch of places are shutting down.
I have more thoughts but ran out of time for now.